Jeff Koons

USA, b1955Neo-pop artist Koons levels the distinctions between high and low art. Combining references to art history and popular culture, his works are characterised by gloss, sentimentality and sexually provocative imagery. Rather than critiquing consumer culture, Koons celebrates it, along with the banal, kitsch and everyday. With the aid of a team of artisans and assistants, he shapes popular objects into artworks, which are often produced in series.

White terrier 1991

Conveying love, warmth and happiness, this dark-eyed puppy embodies Disney-like sentimentalism. This small editioned wooden sculpture, bought by art collector John Kaldor, was scaled up to massive size for Puppy, a 12.4-metre-high flower sculpture that was a Kaldor Public Art Project in Sydney in 1995, which now has a permanent home at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.